


Graduation

by DeadpoolIsMySenpai



Category: Victorious (TV)
Genre: F/M, Graduation, Implied Sexual Content, Post-Graduation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:46:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22171258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadpoolIsMySenpai/pseuds/DeadpoolIsMySenpai
Summary: It's graduation night at Hollywood Arts! But what does this mean for the future of the friends - and couples - who stuck together through their high school years?
Relationships: Andre Harris/Tori Vega, Beck Oliver/Jade West, Robbie Shapiro/Cat Valentine
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20





	Graduation

**_"Good evening!"_ **

A booming voice that seemingly came out of nowhere assaulted the eardrums of everyone in the auditorium. While most people flinched or briefly held their ear in pain, no one was quite as verbal about it as Robbie Shapiro.

"Ow!" Robbie yelled, receiving glances from his friends and a few other people around him. "That really hurt!"

"Man, be quiet," Rex shot back. Robbie immediately shut his mouth. Rex had been Robbie's "puppet" since he was in middle school. While a lot of factors in their relationship were questionable, Robbie was secure in Rex being the voice of reason he sometimes needed.

"Now that I've got everyone's attention..." The teacher on the stage began. "Good evening, everyone! My name is Erwin Sikowitz. I've been the acting teacher for...well, at least half the students in this room."

Sikowitz's eyes glared over the graduating students in the front row, right to the parents that had mainly filled the other rows. "My, what an...interesting bunch you all created."

"He's one to talk," Jade muttered, getting chuckles out of her friends, all sitting in the same row as her.

"Quiet!" Sikowitz demanded. "Now, I know everyone wants to be supportive and watch their kids or grandkids or cousins or _**whatever**_ graduate! However, we at Hollywood Arts have also decided to recognize this year that all of you have lives to be getting back to. Therefore, this year, we will _not_ be allowing the graduating students to give a minute-long speech."

Groans came from the audience - mostly the front row. They had been warned of this ahead of time, but no one expected the administration to actually go through with it. The kids at Hollywood Arts were pretty used to being able to get what they want with just a little pushback, so not being able to get the minute-long graduation speeches every kid had gotten for years was...well, kinda jank.

"Now, we're going to sort through all the students' last names alphabetically, A through Z," Sikowitz stated. "May all graduating students please form a line in that order?"

Again glaring specifically to the parents, Sikowitz gave a fake whisper and a wink. "This may take a couple of minutes."

"We heard that!" Tori yelled. "Now, who comes before and after V?"

"Uh, shouldn't we be starting with A?" A blonde girl sitting towards the right end of the front row asked.

"Who said that?" Robbie asked.

Robbie and his friends all looked at the end of the right end.

"Uh, I'm Jill. I've been in this school for four years." Jill stated. "Jill Anderson."

"Does anyone know who you are?" Jade questioned.

"Of course! You know, the world doesn't just revolve around you and your friends-"

As the teenagers broke into an argument, proving Sikowitz's points, Robbie removed himself from the situation, standing back a bit from the rest of his graduating classmates. After all, he was never great with conflict.

Since he was expecting to be alone, it was to his surprise (and delight) that fellow student Cat Valentine also had pulled herself away from the situation, standing back and _very_ close to Robbie, which made him a little nervous.

"Whoa, I think our names are next to each other," Cat said. Before Robbie had a chance to respond, she began to recite the alphabet aloud. "A, B, C, D, E, F, G...some other letters...S, T, U, V."

"That is cool," Robbie responded. "I guess no one's graduating with a last name starting with T or U?"

"Is that what comes in between our names?"

Robbie gave her a look of confusion. Of course, in typical Cat fashion, she quickly changed the subject rather than letting something weird she said hang in the air for too long.

"Hey, does your ear still hurt?" Cat asked.

"Yeah, a little, why?"

Robbie suddenly felt the _very_ new sensation of Cat blowing into his ear. The sensation of a girl's hot air touching his skin felt like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

"Did that help any?" Cat asked.

"Uhh..." Robbie began, caught off-guard entirely by what had just occurred. "Maybe a little bit. Why do you think...?"

"Oh, I read online that people in the 80s used to blow on video game cartridges to make them work. Well, if it works on video games, why wouldn't it work on an ear?"

Rather than try to argue with Cat's bizarre logic, Robbie simply smiled at her. "Thanks, Cat."

"That's the closest Robbie's ever been to a pretty girl," Rex stated, causing Cat to giggle.

"Rex!" Robbie shouted.

Finally, almost in sync with their conversation, it seemed like the other teenagers had resolved the issue of simply trying to place themselves in alphabetical order. The graduation was able to continue on as planned - with a little interruption from the notorious Jade West, who had the aide of a nerd to make sure everyone in the auditorium heard what she wanted them to hear. 

Yet, even with _that_ happening, and it being one of the biggest moments of his life so far, Robbie's mind felt preoccupied with one thing throughout the ceremony: that brief conversation that he'd had with Cat. The way she always made him feel as if there was nobody else in the room. The way she always spoke her mind, even if it confused or frustrated other people.

The way they were both now graduating from the same high school, and yet he had no idea where she was going or what she planned to do for the rest of her life. Hell, he barely knew what _he_ planned to do.

There was something he needed to do.

* * *

At the end of the ceremony, Robbie tried his best to get through the crowds of people without it turning into a crowd-surfing situation...which _had_ happened to his friend Tori. Everyone in the auditorium was desperate to get home, get to a party, get to a motel...everyone had different plans for the end of the night. If Robbie wanted to make sure he could carry out his plans, he'd need to get to his parents _fast._

"Excuse me - hey! - I'm sorry, excuse me..."

Robbie felt himself repeating the same three or so phrases for a couple of minutes. Finally, he was able to see his parents ahead of him, and quickly pushed through the people in front of him to get to where they were.

"Congratulations, Robbie!" Robbie's mom said loudly, pulling him into a tight hug as soon as she was able to reach him. 

"Thanks, Mom," Robbie replied, appreciating the hug but also glancing over at his father at the same time, who hadn't even looked up from his phone. His mom noticed what he was looking at, and her expression turned from one of adoration to irritation.

"Honey, say congratulations to your son." Robbie's mom demanded, snapping her fingers in front of his phone.

"What?" The man suddenly glanced up from his phone, as if the real world was completely foreign to him. He gave what could only be described as a pitiful glance toward his son. "Oh. Congratulations."

"Thanks, Dad," Robbie responded, deciding to roll with the situation and act like his dad was sincere. "Hey, uh...do you guys mind if I...don't go home with you? There's someone I really need to catch up with-"

"A girl?" Robbie's mom questioned.

"Mom!"

Robbie felt his face turning red as his mom simply laughed and his dad went back to his phone. "Okay, _yes_ , it is. I like her. But I don't...know for certain if she likes me."

"I know for certain this is how serial killers start," Rex interjected.

"Rex!" Robbie shouted.

"Oh, honey, don't get yourself hurt again." Robbie's mom insisted, leaning in to stroke his face.

**"Mom!"**

"Sorry, sorry," Robbie's mom said, backing away from her son. "I get it, you're a man now. Do what you need to do. Right, honey?"

There was a brief pause. Robbie's mom, again irritated, nudged her husband's arm. _"Right,_ honey?"

"Whatever." Robbie's dad stated flatly, not looking up from his phone this time.

"Thank you...so much," Robbie said, almost speechless from the shock of really doing what he was about to do. "Now I just need to find... _Cat!"_

Robbie's eyes caught a glance at the redhead a bit ahead of him, who heard her name and began to look around. He quickly went into action, dodging hands and pushing past the bodies that were everywhere.

"Excuse me, sir - I need to get through - sorry, ma'am! - no, I'm not Andy Samberg! - **ouch!** "

Abruptly, Robbie (and Rex) hit the cold hard floor of the auditorium, chin first...right in front of Cat.

"Man, don't ever let me hit the ground like that again!" Rex complained.

"Oh my god!" Cat shouted, crouching down to Robbie. She grabbed him by the hand and dragged him over to a chair, where there were fewer bodies in the way. "Are you okay?"

"Ugh. Yeah, I think so." Robbie replied. "So, uh...where's your nona? Didn't you say she was coming tonight?"

"Oh, she went outside and had her new boyfriend pick her up after they got past my name," Cat said. 

"Ooh, new boyfriend? Hope I don't see her on _Grannies Gone Wild_!"

Cat laughed at Robbie's joke, before abruptly stopping, almost as if the implication of it hit her all at once. "Gross."

"So, uh, what are you planning on doing tonight?" Robbie inquired.

"Well, I didn't make plans with anyone, so I guess I'm just going back to my nona's." Cat replied. "You?"

"Oh, uh...my parents actually had a family emergency, so they had to leave a little early. So, well, I don't really have a ride home right now, and even if I _did_ get a ride, someone stole the spare key to our house a couple of months ago."

"Oh no," Cat said, putting her hand toward her mouth. It was in a childish tone, but it was a special tone to Cat that Robbie could recognize as meaning that she had genuine concern for him. "Well, you can ride home with me if you...wait a minute. Aren't those your parents right there?"

"Huh?" Robbie questioned, looking to the side of them to see that...yep, those were his parents, just a short distance from them. Apparently they didn't take the hint that they needed to leave. Like, _now_. "Oh, no! Those are their doppelgangers!"

Cat suddenly appeared excited. "Oh my god, they're in a gang? I was in a gang once!"

"No, no, no. A doppelganger is someone who _really_ looks like you, but isn't you. Everyone has one. What a coincidence that my parents' doppelgangers are at my graduation! Anyway, we should get going."

Before Cat had timed to protest, Robbie had grabbed her by the hand and was heading for the exit, which was a bit easier to get through now that a good portion of people had already cleared out.

 _"Nice going, casanova."_ Rex whispered.

* * *

The car ride itself back to Cat's house was rather uneventful. Neither Robbie or Cat said much; Robbie because his brain was catching up to his mouth in what had just happened, and Cat because Robbie wasn't saying anything.

When they finally reached the apartment complex, Robbie got out first and opened the door for Cat. "M'lady."

Cat blushed, laughing at him. "You're so funny, Robbie."

As Cat walked ahead of Robbie, Rex again whispered to him. _"Not gonna lie, that was kinda lame."_

 _"Can you just let me do this how I wanna do this?"_ Robbie whisper-yelled back, taking Rex by surprise. Robbie was a little worried that Cat had heard him, but she either hadn't or was choosing to ignore it, as she carried on in her steps toward the door like nothing was going on behind her.

The three of them took an elevator to where Cat and her nona's apartment was - specifically, Apartment 22. When Cat opened the door to the apartment, Robbie couldn't help but be impressed.

"Wow, your nona has a nice place." Robbie stated.

"Yeah, can you believe she's talked about moving out of here?" Cat replied. "I guess cuz she's getting older, she just thinks that all old people are supposed to go to retirement homes."

"Wait, if she did that, where would you go?"

Cat shrugged. "We'll cross that road when the hamster gets to it."

Cat headed towards the back of the apartment as Robbie paused for a second.

"The hamster...?" Robbie repeated to himself silently, ultimately shrugging it off and deciding not to think too hard about it. This was Cat.

* * *

Robbie had thought the living room was nice, but Cat's room took things up to another level. It was a _big_ room - big enough that two people could have easily shared it if they needed to. However, Cat had the entire room to herself, and every square inch of it was decked out in her personality. Robbie imagined that Cat had tried to recreate what her bedroom was when she was living with her parents, which must've taken hours of work.

"Nice room," Rex interjected before Robbie had a chance to speak. "Pink is Robbie's favorite color."

"It is not!" Robbie shot back, causing Cat to laugh again at them.

"Yeah, I can't believe my nona had all this space she wasn't using," Cat said, lying down on her bed and spreading her arms out. "My parents never let me have all this stuff out, either. You see that bear above the bed? My mom tried to get rid of him a couple of months ago."

Robbie gasped. "They can't get rid of your bear! You're Cat Valentine, you need bears!"

Cat giggled, moving over on the bed to give Robbie a place to sit. "That's so true."

"Oh, uh..."

Cat slapped her hand on the bed, indicating that she wanted Robbie to sit in the clear space next to her. Robbie was hesitant but eventually scooted himself right next to a lounging Cat.

"Wow. Now _this_ is the closest Robbie's ever been to a pretty girl." Rex stated.

Robbie didn't even feel like protesting that one.

"I do miss home sometimes, though," Cat said. "I even wrote a song that kinda helps me get through it."

"You wrote a song?" Robbie replied, clearly surprised.

"Yeah. There's no music, but I recorded my vocals. Whenever I'm feeling sad, I just turn it on and somehow, it just reminds me that everything's going to be okay."

"Well, can I hear it?"

Cat bit her lip. "I don't know..."

"Come on, please?" Robbie begged. "I think you have a beautiful voice."

Within the moment, Cat's face started turning crimson. "Oh, uh...thank you, Robbie. Okay, I'll play it."

Cat got off of the bed briefly and grabbed her laptop from the pink table that was in front of them. Sitting back down on the bed next to Robbie, she opened the laptop, then clicked on a file labeled " _my song - vocals.mp3"._

* * *

* * *

As soon as the song began, Robbie couldn't believe his ears.

He knew that Cat had a great voice, but he had never really heard her sing by herself before. The raw emotion in her voice was something that had to be heard to be believed. Furthermore, even without a beat or any music behind it, Robbie could tell just from the lyrics that this was capable of being a huge hit.

Engrossed in the song, Robbie was unable to notice how Cat kept glancing over at him while it was playing, nervous as to how he would react. When it finally ended, Cat was the first to speak.

"It's bad, isn't it?" Cat said.

"Absolutely not!" Robbie exclaimed, causing Cat to jump a little. "Oh, uh...sorry about that. I can't believe you'd think that was bad. Have you tried sending this to a record label?"

"A record label?" Cat repeated. Her eyes were now glancing down from Robbie, looking at Rex. "Rex, what did you think of the song?"

"It was alright," Rex said.

" _Alright?_ " Robbie questioned, sounding outraged. "How could you - alright, that's it."

Robbie got up off of the bed. He removed Rex from his hand, setting him down on the pink table facing the other way from him and Cat. Cat gasped.

"Robbie!" Cat exclaimed.

"Oh, he'll be fine." Robbie insisted, shutting down any concern that either he or Cat could have about the invasive puppet as he sat back down on the bed. "Cat, that song was amazing. And I - I think you're amazing."

"Robbie..."

"And I think you should let someone write some amazing music for it, and after that, I think you should let the whole world know how amazing you are. And I'm going to keep saying 'amazing' until you can promise me that you'll never think anything you do is bad again."

Robbie touched Cat's hand. "You deserve the world, Cat Valentine. And, if it was okay with you, I'd like to spend the rest of my life with you, helping you get everything that you deserve."

The room was silent for a couple of seconds before Cat was able to respond.

"Oh my god, Robbie..." Cat began. "Are you asking me to marry you?"

Robbie's jaw gaped open. "No! I mean...not that it wouldn't be nice, but...that's not what I was trying to..."

Ugh. Robbie suddenly felt like he'd blown it. He felt a rush of heat going to his cheeks - not because he was feeling love in the air, but because of how embarrassed he was. Maybe he _did_ need Rex.

"I just don't want to lose you, Cat," Robbie explained.

Cat tilted her head at Robbie, much in the same way dogs do when they're trying to understand something better. "Lose me? What do you mean?"

"Well, we've graduated from high school. I mean, we've been in the same circle of friends forever, but I know some of us are going to be going to different colleges. We can try to text and video chat, but...really, things are never going to be the same between all of us."

Taking in the weight of Robbie's explanation, Cat hung her head down in disappointment. "Well, phooey. Now you've got me all sad."

"What are you planning on doing now?" Robbie asked.

"Well, I got accepted to a college, so I'll probably go there at least a year, to try it out and see if it's right for me. You?"

"I got accepted to a college too. USC."

"I can't remember the name of mine, but I've got the letter on my dresser," Cat said, getting up from her bed and going over to her dresser. "Somewhere...not that, not that...hey, I've been looking for that...oh, there it-"

Cat cut her own sentence off, falling silent.

"What's wrong?" Robbie asked.

"Nothing," Cat replied, with what sounded like heartbreak in her voice.

"Oh, Cat..." Robbie said, sounding a bit disappointed. "Are we not going to the same school?"

"No, it's not that!" Cat exclaimed. Making eye contact with Robbie again, he was able to see that she wasn't heartbroken - she had tears of joy. "We _are_ going to the same school!"

"Really?" Robbie asked, getting up from the bed and looking at the letter. "Oh my gosh, we are!"

"Yay!" Cat said giddily, pulling Robbie in for a hug. "I'm so happy!"

"I am too," Robbie replied, letting his hand rest on Cat's back.

The two of them looked straight into each other's eyes, with only a couple of inches in between them. Neither of them seemed absolutely certain of what to do from here - but, for the first time in Robbie Shapiro's life, he took the lead. Closing his eyes, he naturally guided Cat's lips towards his own, as the two had their first serious kiss. His hand went through her hair, loving the feeling of her lips and her silky locks together.

Cat pulled herself from his lips when it felt right. Robbie suddenly exhaled, as if kissing Cat literally took his breath away. She turned a small lock on the knob of her door, ensuring nobody else would be able to enter.

"Hey...what are you doing?" Robbie asked.

Cat giggled. "Robbie. I know you didn't make up that story about your parents leaving and having doppelgangers and come back home with me just for a quick kiss."

Opening her dresser again, Cat dug around a bit before seemingly finding what she was looking for. She sat back down on the bed, legs crossed, hands behind her back. Slowly but surely, she revealed what was in one of her hands. She took what appeared to be an eyepatch from her hand and placed onto her right eye.

"Do you wanna play pirates?"


End file.
